


Honor

by daalex



Series: Intertwined Destiny [16]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Battle, Epic Battles, Fights, Honor, Mother Complex, Not Beta Read, Other, Swordfighting, Swords, Weapons Made Of Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-07 06:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21453178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daalex/pseuds/daalex
Summary: previously in Intertwined Destiny:Demeter has never cared for Hades, and her disdain for him has continued to fester through the centuries.  She last saw Persephone months ago at the intervention at Artemis' house.  Things did not end well; Persephone asked for Hades to take her home to the underworld.  Demeter disagreed, though Hades vowed to take care of Persephone.Fast forward to present day, where Demeter finds herself missing her daughter terribly, and Hades pays her an unexpected visit in the mortal realm.  They have a discussion.  Or, Hades at leasttriesto have a discussion...
Relationships: i mean. it's a fight.
Series: Intertwined Destiny [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1467226
Comments: 31
Kudos: 176





	Honor

**Author's Note:**

> contrary to popular belief, here's another chapter without smut or gratuitous fluids.  
mild content warning for some violence, though no harm comes to either party.  
Lore Olympus belongs to Rachel Smythe.

“Lady Demeter, what more can I do to help you?” a flower nymph asked.   
She had big twinkling brown eyes, with lime green skin and aqua locks of hair. Her chiton was short in length, coming to her knees. Holding a small bale of wheat in hand, she stood awaiting further directive from her goddess.  
“I think that will be enough for today, little one,” Demeter replied.   
Her eyes were sullen. Her violet hair was pulled into a tall ponytail that cascaded down to the small of her back. Her canary yellow peplos and gown billowed in the wind as she walked barefoot through the field, observing the works of her nymphs as they continued to gather wheat, barley and other crops. The yearly harvest that took place every autumn usually found Demeter in peak form and grace; mortals flocked to her temples to worship and bring offerings, singing praises for bountiful crops and produce to supply them through the winter… Yet this fall, Demeter was listless, nonchalant and, dare one to say, melancholy.   
  
As she languidly strode away from her conglomerate of maidens and nymphs, the feel of the ground beneath her bare feet made her take pause. Soft, moist and grainy; she dug her toes in, feeling the coolness of the dirt between them. Stooping low, she scooped a tender handful in her palm, and closed her fist around it, clutching it delicately. When her fingers opened from the clasp of dirt, a pink stargazer bloomed from the tiny mound of dirt, with wisps of golden sparkles, and a soft and hazy glow illuminating from its leaves. Her empty eyes widened slightly at the sight of the beautiful bloom, and the creases of her lips began to turn slightly upward, as if they wanted to form a smile.   
  
“Dearest daughter, how I miss you so…”  
  
Shaking the last bit of soil away from the bloom, Demeter gingerly tucked the flower behind her brooch that bound her peplos at her chest, close to her heart. It had been four long months since she and Persephone argued. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, yet Demeter felt terribly guilty for how things had concluded, on that fateful day at Artemis’ house. Artemis contacted her out of concern for Persephone’s well-being; naturally, she abandoned her immediate tasks and fled to their house to see how she could assist. It was selfishly motivated; Demeter wanted to assist and fix things to her own liking, not what was best for Persephone. Demeter maintained an opinion that Hades was cold, cruel, unkind and never worthy to court her daughter. The tragedies of the past played wistfully in her mind; overthrowing Kronos, escaping his wrath, Rhea’s disappearance and the change in Hades’ demeanor soon thereafter. Demeter never had parents of her own; she was grown and sprouted just as Persephone was. Thus, the sentiments of regard for the elder titans was lost on her. The establishment of the realms made no difference to her; Demeter would not rule over any domain, nor would she be ruled by Zeus. She simply wished to exist; bringing the yearly harvest and change of the warmer seasons, with praise from the mortals in retribution.   
  
Persephone changed that will for existence, when she budded from the ground. A delicate pink stargazer at first, Demeter gave protection and nourishment to the bloom, that continued to flourish and grow until a tiny little baby sprouted, clutching at the anthers and style inside the pink petals, sneezing after dusting her nose in pollen. If Demeter didn’t have a heart before, she most certainly found it in that moment. Vowing to protect Kore forever, Demeter cared for her, raised her as her daughter, and loved her with all of her might. The adolescent years were fulfilling, with the tiny magenta goddess toddling around after her emerald hued mother, learning her mannerisms and behaviors, helping to break winter’s grasp to orchestrate spring and ease summer into autumn. Demeter had someone to adore, cherish, and share her world with. But it was Demeter’s ignorance that prevented her from understanding; Persephone is her own unique individual. She couldn’t force Persephone to identically emulate every single move and stride that she had taken in her eternal life. Demeter wanted her to be successful, ritualistic and repetitious with her actions; earning praise from the mortals and ensuring that spring was orchestrated neatly, and summer transitioned into autumn with grace. Persephone never wanted any kind of restraint on how she lived her life; spring was chaotic, wild, vast and unpredictable. Autumn was a casual adjustment that came without warning. Demeter knew of no other way to live; routine presided over variables, as it was safest and the least amount of risk. Persephone herself, _is_ a variable, and an unprecedented one at that.  
  
What Demeter wouldn’t give, to have her stargazer close to her heart once more.  
  
As she walked idly through a field of flowers, a sudden gust of bitterly cold wind blew about, startling her. It was too warm for such an arctic blast to be present in the mortal realm. Cautiously, she placed her arms at her sides, palms open, fingers wavering with white light and magic.   
  
“Show yourself, _demon_,” she uttered.   
“I have no quarrel with you, Demeter,” Hades voice rang out.  
Demeter turned around, rotating her stance to see where his voice would have sounded from, but she saw no one present.  
“You took my daughter from me, blue devil,” she hissed.  
The white light between her fingertips slowly grew and extended into beams, almost as if they were blades. She then slowly clasped them together with her fists, making a singular unit.  
“I will only say this once more: I am not here to fight you, by any means,” Hades replied.  
“Yet you have the unmitigated gall to approach me under the guise of witchery and deceit?”  
In an instant, Demeter spun to the right and sliced through the air with a wall of white light that cut through the flowers so sharply, the ground was left with an angled indentation that was as broad and as wide as one of the gods their self.   
“If that is the greeting that I am due to receive upon arrival, invisibility is warranted,” Hades said coldly.  
Demeter swung to her left, dragging her weapon of illumination from the ground, digging another small ditch, and then flinging it skyward, with a crack of lightning. A faint shadow was lit, almost barely, in the rays from her weapon, just short of where it made contact with the ground.  
“Formidable weaponry, Thesmorphoros—”  
Demeter’s eyes widened as she twisted her spear, angrily flicking it around her wrist and then jabbing it forward. It stopped mid-air, as her arms trembled trying to push the weapon further.   
“—but this end, _now_!”  
Hades voice reverberated as he caught the spear with his bare hands, which were barely visible as they clasped around the makeshift sword. Suddenly, the radiant white light transformed, overtaken with swirls of black and blue magic until it became a saber, obsidian in color, engulfed in flames, that burned Demeter’s hands. She snatched her hands from the weapon immediately, wincing in pain as it continued to be held by Hades, until slowly, the length of the weapon was turned back towards Demeter, its edge at her throat. She could smell the smoke of the fire that burned along the epee’s edge.  
Hades form then appeared, gradually, with the removal of his helmet of invisibility. He was wearing armor suited for the mortal realm—a navy blue metal breastplate and ptereus over a black chiton, with black and blue metal greaves and gauntlets. At his neck was a long blue cape that waved in the wind, along with his hair that descended his back. Standing in a defensive stance, he wielded the weapon, breathing heavily after dodging and blocking Demeter’s attacks. He was struggling to maintain his regular form, as hints of stars and blue violet cosmos crept around his temples, neck and arms. Eyes a bloody red, a snarl was on his lips as he clutched the blade, his galaxy rage form fighting to take over.   
“Are you going to kill me, Aidoneus?”  
Hades’ chest continued to rise and fall. His teeth were clenched, and his grip on the saber was unwavering. Pulling it backwards, he held it in the air, and Demeter closed her eyes, grimacing for the blow to come.  
“No,” he contended, stabbing the soil and lodging the saber in the dirt.  
Demeter chuckled. “You should…”

Eyes glowing red, Demeter jumped backwards. A wicked grin crossed her face as she crouched while she landed. Rising slowly, she placed her fists together at the insides of her hands, right to left and left to right, and slowly pulled them apart. As she pulled, a beam of white light appeared between them, crackling with power. She continued to form another weapon as she spread her fists apart, until eventually, she held a blade of light in each hand.   
“You’ve been difficult for over two thousand years… _Clearly_ old habits die hard.”  
“I **hate** you Aidoneus, with every drop of ichor in my body…”  
Demeter began to circle around Hades slowly, calculating where she would begin her attack. She swirled her dual swords as if they were batons, twirling her wrists over and under as the light cut through the air with precision.   
“I never cared for your approval anyways,” he sassed.  
_“You stole my daughter from me,”_ she growled, in a mangled voice.  
“Persephone is in the Underworld of her own request and volition, to get away from you and that wretched sun god!” Hades exclaimed. “I never asked her to live with me, but I refuse to turn her away. If leaving you was what was best for her—”  
“How _dare_ **you** proclaim to know what is best for my daughter!”  
Demeter swung her sword in Hades direction, as he jumped to avoid the blow. However, he only managed to dodge the first sword—the second made contact, slicing the top layer of his gauntlet, which soon fell from his arm.  
“Why hasn’t it occurred to you that leaving could have been what Persephone felt was best for herself?” he yelled. Extending his defenseless arm, he opened his palm as black swirls of magic circled around it, cycling over and over again until a shield was formed. He pulled his flaming sword from the ground, clutching it in hand as he whipped his wrist in a figure eight motion, positioning himself in another defensive stance, with his shield up and his blade poised.  
“Nonsense!” Demeter argued, lunging towards Hades again. She swung the swords, both landing with a metal clang on the shield, as Hades lurched forward to throw her back away from him.   
“She is just a child!”  
“She is an _adult_!”  
“She knows nothing of the world or the realms!” Demeter screamed, leaping towards Hades again. Her blades collided with his, as smoke and electricity crackled where the blades battled one another with heat and pressure.  
“Because you wouldn’t allow it!” Hades objected. “How selfish can you be?!”   
“I’m the selfish one?!   
“Fucking right you are!” 

Hades then turned to his left, allowing Demeter to fall forward. As she began to fall, he sliced one of her blades of light in half, causing it to fizzle and fade from sight. Demeter stumbled briefly, but swooped low to recover, kicking her leg out as she tripped Hades. He fell on his back, stunned momentarily, but threw his legs forward in a kick-up to launch himself back to his feet.   
“She doesn’t need you, Aidoneus.”  
“All I am trying to do is to love her, Thesmorphorus. For the rest of my days. And honor her as she deserves.”  
Demeter held her remaining blade with both hands, cautiously circling around Hades once again.  
“You could never honor my daughter—nothing that wreaks of death could possibly be associated with honor.”  
Hades countered Demeter’s approach slowly, carefully moving to his right as she continued to circle. His galaxy rage form had taken over most of his body, as his arms and legs were a midnight blue with twinkling stars scattered throughout. His face was still cerulean blue, but the hints of the cosmos lingered at his temples… His eyes glowed a crimson red as his lip upturned in a snarl at hearing her vitriolic words.  
“I am King of the Underworld, God of the Dead, and ruler of one of the three realms,” he explained, through clenched teeth. “I have more honor in one hand than you could hold in your entire body… The only lack of honor here, is the honor you lack for your own damn daughter.”  
Demeter swung her sword again, but Hades countered it so viciously, it knocked her to her feet. The blade toppled away from her, and Demeter reached to grab it, but Hades held his sword at her throat once again.   
“I told you before that I have no quarrel with you, yet you still seek to battle me; you will lose.”  
“Then why haven’t you killed me yet?” she chided.  
“Because you are mother to the woman that I love,” he explained. “What good would it be to kill you?”  
“Do you? Do you genuinely love my daughter?”  
“With every breath in my lungs. That’s why I’m here today.”

Demeter remained quiet, as Hades’ sword sparked and crackled with black flames.   
“Demeter, I vowed to you that I would take care of her—”   
He tossed his shield away, as it evaporated into nothing. Moving the sword away from her neck and down to his side, he extended his hand to help her up from the ground.  
“—and take care of her, I will. I come to you today, to let you know that I plan to ask for her hand in marriage.”  
Demeter’s red eyes reverted to their normal appearance of white sclera’s and black pupils. Her mouth opened with a gasp, as Hades stood over her, hand extended, completely engulfed in an intergalactic appearance. His hair floated softly as his power surged through his body, his cape billowing, his chest heaving, trying to catch his breath.   
Demeter looked at his open palm but made no move to grasp it.  
“And what will you do if I say no?” she suggested.  
“You misunderstand me—as I previously stated, I don’t care for your approval.”  
“Then why go through the trouble of entering my realm and place of worship, to tell me such a trivial thing?”  
Hades withdrew his hand, as Demeter made it apparent, she did not wish to touch him.   
“You mentioned honor earlier; I honor Persephone, by respecting that you are her mother, no matter how insanely difficult you repeatedly prove yourself to be. Informing you is still the right thing; the _honorable_ thing, to do.”  
Sheathing his sword, he turned his back to Demeter, as he stooped to the ground, picking up his helmet. Looking over his shoulder, he placed it upon his head and disappeared immediately.   
  
“Contrary to popular belief, some of us are **not** blessed enough to still have our own mother around.”  
  
Demeter climbed to her feet, as the sound of Hades’ footsteps faded away. Frantically pressing her fingertips to her chest, she felt and discovered that her stargazer was still intact, unharmed from the battle. She sighed, as a single tear fell from her eye, landing in the center of the bloom, causing the flower to blossom even more.  
  
© daalex 2019

**Author's Note:**

> Having reverence for his own mother is the predominant reason why Hades wanted to let Demeter know the way he felt towards Persephone, but he knew it wouldn't be easy because of how much Demeter disliked him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have brought the helmet of invisibility. The holding his sword to her neck was the only way Hades could speak to Demeter long enough to hold her attention, not because he had any intent of hurting her. He wouldn't. It's kind of fucked up that she has to think he'd be willing to strike a blow in order for him to get his point across, but at the same time, she's never given him a chance; even in the canon LO series they always argued. I hope that I captured that well, and that this explanation helps to answer any questions or quell any misconceptions.
> 
> also, Thesmorphoros is another one of Demeter's names.
> 
> what do you think? sorry for more plot, but it's necessary to move my storyline along. fluids and such will return one of these days...  
smash the kudos button, and thank you for the hits/likes/comments.


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